Debts

On Saturday, Jen and I decided to splurge and take-out some pizza from Chow, a new place that just opened in Clinton. We ordered their Figgy Stardust pie and a traditional Margarita. “35 minutes!” they told us and, shortly thereafter, we zipped down to pick up the pizzas.

As I walked in, another guy was just paying for his order. The place was hoppin. The tables were all full and a bustling staff was rushing around providing drinks and foodstuffs to the patrons. The cashier looked up at me

“Hi,” I began, “I’m here to pick up a take-out order under DiDonato.”

She paused. Immediately it was obvious something was wrong. She glanced down at her computer, the slightest indication of concern furrowing her brow.

“I’m sorry, what was the name?”

“DiDonato.”

After a few more moments, she called out to the man who had just paid before me, “Sir, can I take a look at your order please?”

“Yeah, of course.” The man was a little older than me. He wore a backwards baseball cap and had a friendly demeanor.

The waitress took his receipt and asked him “What name was your order under?”

“DeNotadi” The man replied

After a short laugh and a frustrating few moments amongst the staff, they finally determined that they had both orders in the system. Ours under DiDonato and his under “Shawn.” But we still had to settle out the payment as Shawn had already paid for my Pizza. The total had been $28.71

“I have cash. How about I just give you $30.00?” I suggested

“Actually,” he replied “I have a dollar. So here we go.”

I gave him the thirty bucks, and he gave me the dollar. Then, he turned to the cashier “Could I get change back for this five? I owe him 30 cents,” pointing to me.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. It’s no big deal.” I offered

“Do you watch game of thrones?”

“I do…” I replied, mildly perplexed.

And as he dropped 30 cents into my hand he looked into my eyes and said: “A DeNotadi always pays his debts.”